Social interactions like Twitter mentions and retweets, Facebook comments, etc. are called social signals.
Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm for several years now.
Note: Google encourages businesses to build their social presence as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, rather than aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of its web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social signals, as so many things change quickly on social media. Without a reliable ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign too much importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In summary, Google’s strategy is to “wait and see” how things develop over time, as websites that provide real value tend to develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the sites that Google naturally wants to ascribe higher search rankings to.
Social Signal Sources
Social media sites that search engines like Google look to for measuring social signals include:
With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. It has been estimated that one great post on Facebook can reach over 100,000 users, so even if no one is buying your products or services on Facebook, don’t be quick to dismiss the power of leveraging Facebook, as Google uses data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, Facebook seems influence website rankings more than other social media sites.
(Number of active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over half a billion tweets sent out each day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer on the cybersphere and places great importance on the authority of tweets posted to readers over the number of tweets sent …
(Over half a billion tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google Plus
Google’s own social media site naturally carries a significant degree of authority online, even if it is still a fledgling social community compared to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are interacting socially on Google+ each week. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big three listed above, there are a number of other social media networks worth paying attention to, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search rankings)
Which Social Signals Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook shares, likes, and comments a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, how influential the person sending tweets is, trending topics, etc.
- GooglePlus – e.g. who is following you (influential users), how many followers on Google+ your URL has accrued, number and growth rate of +1s, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Not so obvious signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related signals that can influence search engine rankings and traffic. These include desirable and undesirable factors, such as improving clickthrough rate [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be irrelevant by visitors [negative].
As a website owner, it’s important to not only find ways to grow your social media presence, but also to be able to track and analyze your social media performance in order to improve your business results.
(Using social media marketing can improve your business results)
Social media monitoring allows you to gain insights into what people are saying about your brand, services, or company on social media, assess competitor activity and mind share, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, avert disasters, and spot new opportunities for engagement. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with valuable information about emerging trends and what clients and consumers think about specific brands, products, businesses, or topics.
As a business intelligence tool, being able to monitor activity, trends, and online conversations on social media is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various groups that include digital reputation management companies, market researchers, marketing teams, social media marketing agencies, social engagement and community personnel, and professional sales reps. Typically, small businesses don’t can’t afford to pay media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their digital reputation.
Fortunately various providers have created affordable tools to facilitate the active monitoring of a broad range of social media channels, allowing companies to track consumer behavior around their products or brands allowing them to respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in a timely fashion.
We have created a detailed article listing a number of social media monitoring tools and technologies that will help you identify new business opportunities, track competitor activity, see what online conversations are taking place that could affect your business,etc. See this page to learn more:
(Are you looking for an effective way to measure social signals?)
In this article, we look at a simple plugin for WordPress users for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media exposure online.
Our Featured WordPress Product Is …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Description Of Plugin
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-use social media analytics WordPress plugin that is designed to make improving your social media exposure online uncomplicated. It is built on a simple concept – the plugin measures how each signal is performing and returns either a green or red indicator. The user’s goal is simple … convert all the red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a system that any user can operate … turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. This simplifies your social analytics with Excel-like conditional color formatting. Posts that get shared the most display green. Posts with low social media activity display amber and red.
The developers of Social Metrics Pro tested their plugin on a network of 2,000+ websites over a period of 3 months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they noticed a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing can result in higher search engine rankings, more traffic and increased revenue!)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Plugin Benefits
Here are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Social Metrics Pro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more from your WordPress Dashboard on your website:
Fast And Easy To Install And Use. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
SocialMetricsPro installs just like any regular WP plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your admin user area and activate.
Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to convert red squares into greens. The plugin tracks and measures social signals the way Google sees it so you know which social campaigns require more effort and where to optimize.
Track Social Signals From Social Networks You Care About
Social Metrics Pro provides a powerful dashboard to monitor social activity across leading social media networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon directly from your WordPress admin area.
Social Metrics Pro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which social campaigns are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which are my most popular posts?
- And more …
With SocialMetricsPro, all of this information can be accessed with a single click.
(Social Metrics Pro actively monitors social signals from the sites that you care most about!)
Social Metrics Pro Features
Social Metrics Pro provides web site owners with many features. Below we have listed just some:
- Quick and simple to install and implement. Ready to start using in minutes.
- Social Metrics Pro Is Widgets And Extensions Ready. You can extend its functionality using built-in and external widgets. Social Metrics Pro displays updated information right on your WP admin bar, display socially popular content on your blog sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- 1-click upgrades. Update the plugin in one click via the WordPress Updates screen, or update the manually manually. You can also opt to be notified via email when new plugin updates are released.
- Low-resource consumption. Reports are compiled very quickly, consuming little server resources. Report generation also displays the amount of time spent retrieving information and the server resources consumed when gathering the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: SocialMetricsPro allows you to sort and filter your data however you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post authors, publishing date, post type, or category.
- Export Data: You can export filtered, sorted data and custom queries to Excel for further analysis. Data can be exported in tab-delimited and comma-separated file formats, and imported to Excel or the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is very simple to use … just convert all the reds into greens!)
Testimonials From Product Customers
Below are a couple of the testimonials users have written about Social Metrics Pro:
”Our entire marketing strategy relies on social media. Each post on the site has viral potential, but we needed one place to see which social networks are performing the best for us…We went ahead and got the PRO Version of Social Metrics.” Syed Balkhi, Founder of List25 and WPBeginner.com
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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation (WordCamp Montreal 2011)
Social Metrics Pro – Tips
Social Metrics Pro includes a step-by-step, practical guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. how to turn reds into greens).
Social Metrics Pro Plugin Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades and new releases for free with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, complete money-back guarantee.
Software Price
Social Metrics Pro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site Licensing – This lets you use Social Metrics Pro on a single website. It includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites License – This license option lets you run Social Metrics Pro on unlimited websites that you own. Includes free lifetime updates and support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Pricing for the SocialMetricsPro product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. The price shown above was correct at the time this article was published. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin developer when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing here:
Additional Info
Social Metrics Pro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, Google has been elevating the importance given to social signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. SocialMetricsPro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives WordPress users instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and guides them where to improve their results.
SocialMetricsPro is ideal for beginners and advanced WordPress users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more right from your WordPress dashboard.
Get Social Metrics Pro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to measure your social media marketing results professionally.
For more information, visit the plugin website: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics Plugin
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